With a head start, Entourage enters the weekend as Hollywood's shiniest new offering – a big screen continuation of HBO's eight-year TV series, which ended in 2011, and another almost-two hours in the life of actor Vincent Chase and his crew of skirt-chasing boys – Eric, Turtle, Drama, and his agent Ari Gold, the show's only transcending character, played to awards and acclaim by Jeremy Piven.
The film has been critically panned so far and has picked up modest gains since its premiere on Tuesday. (The irony here is that Ari himself would have detested a soft opening for any of Vince's films, whether it was the character's career-making hit Aquaman or the Lifetime-ish crime thriller Head On.)
Entourage is predicted to pull in close to $20 million by this weekend's end, a five-day total. San Andreas is still dragging Tinseltown with it, expected to hit a $100 million total through Sunday. Melissa McCarthy's Spy is the early leader this weekend, predicted to make between $33 and $35.5 million (all estimates via Deadline.com).
Recommended Review for Entourage, via Wesley Morris of Grantland:
"As a half-hour show on HBO, it lasted for eight seasons and overstayed its welcome by at least five. Now Vince, the actor, it appears, has directed a movie for Ari's studio and is nervous about letting anyone see it. That's it. That's the whole story."
Also opening this weekend:
Love & Mercy is perhaps the most Oscar-ish of anything in theatres right now, a film about the Beach Boys' lead Brian Wilson – his success, his relationships, and his struggles. Stars the always up-and-coming Paul Dano as Wilson, with John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti, and the songs of the Sixties forming the film's star power.
Insidious: Chapter 3. It's scary. It's about dead things tormenting living people.